MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. The average gas price in Europe rose 1.5-fold in March compared with February to about $633 per 1,000 cubic meters amid the conflict in the Middle East, according to data from the London-based ICE exchange on futures trading and TASS calculations.

If on February 27 gas futures were trading at about $388 per 1,000 cubic meters, then trading closed at $596 on March 31, up 54% compared with the end of February.

In addition, gas prices in Europe were 36% higher than the average quotations of March 2025.

Overall, in the Q1 of 2026, quotations averaged $482 per 1,000 cubic meters compared with $509 in the first quarter of 2025 and $362 in the Q4 of 2025.

In January 2025, the average gas price in Europe was about $517 per 1,000 cubic meters (up 53% year-on-year compared with 2024), in February — $542 (+88%), in March — $467 (+55%), in April — $409 (+28%), in May — $412 (+15%), in June — $439 (+14%), in July — $410 (+12%), in August — $394 (-10%), in September — $393 (-5.5%), in October — $384 (-16%), in November — $368 (-25%), in December — $334 (-32%), in January 2026 — $415 (-20%), in February — $396 (-27%), in March — $633 (+36%).

 

Reasons for gas price increase

 

The sharp rise in gas prices in March was caused by the war launched at the end of February by the United States and Israel against Iran. US military facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were also struck. The conflict also led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of global oil and LNG exports pass.

In addition, gas infrastructure facilities in the Middle East were hit. In particular, Qatar’s state oil and gas company QatarEnergy reported significant damage to the facility in Ras Laffan, where its LNG plant is located, following missile strikes. Full restoration of the plant could take years.

All this led to rising gas prices in Europe and Asia, which will compete with each other for available volumes on the market, pushing quotations higher. EU countries will soon begin the gas injection season into storage facilities for the next winter, which will likely take place at higher fuel prices. European underground gas storage facilities are currently only 28% full. The absolute minimum level of gas in European storage facilities was recorded in March 2018 at 17.7%.

The total volume of fuel in storage currently amounts to about 31 bln cubic meters. EU countries had already used up all the gas that had been injected into storage during the summer by mid-February and are now withdrawing gas from reserves remaining from previous years. Since the start of the heating season on October 13, 2025, EU countries have withdrawn more than 70 bln cubic meters of gas from storage. Net withdrawals amount to about 61 bln cubic meters, which is already 6 bln cubic meters more than the volumes injected during the summer.

Earlier, Gazprom forecast that gas reserves in European underground storage facilities may not reach even 70% by the next heating season.